When it comes to using social media for recruiting, Deloitte—which provides auditing, consulting, financial advisory, risk management, and tax services through independent firms worldwide—deploys a full-court press.

“Deloitte is taking a multifaceted digital approach to recruiting by using a blend of social networking resources and multimedia elements. A versatile introduction to their company is available at the click of a button,” reports the T+D Blog in “Deloitte: The Future of Recruiting is Social Media.” Deloitte’s program integrates several interactive media outlets, including a micro-site, a Twitter feed, a Facebook page, a LinkedIn group and a YouTube channel.

The micro-site provides an in-depth look into the lives of the firm’s Gen Y workers through a series of profiles and short films. The Twitter feed, “Life at Deloitte,”features daily tweets designed to provide insight into the company’s different practice areas and the latest hot topics from a variety of business leaders. The “Your Future at Deloitte (U.S.)” Facebook page also has interactive message boards where potential job candidates can join the discussion. A campus-focused LinkedIn group helps connect college students with employees and recruiters.

Deloitte’s YouTube channel, “Your Future at Deloitte,” features video testimonies from employees about why they chose the company and what the work means to them.

Deloitte, which has about 169,000 employees worldwide, estimates it will hire about 4,800 full- and part-time employees during 2010.

Sodexo USA, the global food and facilities management services provider which was recently awarded ERE’s 2010 excellence in recruiting award, also makes use of a full social media arsenal. “Sodexo’s social media initiative is on the leading edge of best practices,” writes John Sullivan in “Best Practices in Recruiting” on ERE.net. “Its web presence effectively communicates Sodexo’s company culture, and opportunities across a Careers blog, Facebook page, LinkedIn group, YouTube channel, Twitter and Flickr.” The Society for New Communications Research has recognized Sodexo for its pioneering work in microblogging.

Employing a more one-dimensional social media recruiting campaign, Sears Holding Corp., recently posted 7,000 positions with TweetMyJOBS, a Twitter-based job board service. Writing for ReadWriteWeb , Sarah Perez says TweetMyJOBS president and founder Gary Zukowski claims the partnership makes Sears, which also includes the Kmart chain, one of the largest brands to embrace mobile recruiting. The service lets job seekers receive instant notification on their cell phones via Twitter when new jobs are posted online.

The partnership has a large potential to grow as Sears posted more than 500,000 job openings last year via traditional recruiting channels.

Another social media recruiting partnership features CareerBuilder.com and Facebook.

In “It’s time to update your Facebook status—recruitment strategies move toward social media in 2010” on examiner.com, Megan Munch notes that job postings from CareerBuilder now also post directly to Facebook. “The best matched candidates will be able to see the company’s job advertisement on the side of their Facebook page.”

Careerbuilder and Facebook also cooperate in helping the more than 700,000 local companies that have Facebook pages improve their image. CareerBuilder consultants work with clients, checking their Facebook pages weekly—blogging, posting updates, new hires and accomplishments—as well as monitoring site activity.

Munch offers one bit of advice to potential job seekers using social media, especially those fresh out of college. “I would advise taking down [photo] albums titled ‘The Hangover Album.’ Inappropriate behavior can and will affect job and internship opportunities.”

John Sniffen, April 14, 2010

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